After a very difficult wednesday, the team has been trying to find answers (and rest!) all night long because the 2 Qualifying Sessions tonight are crucial! The place on the grid doesn’t mean that much in the team’s strategy, but we cannot afford to loose more time in the garage, we need to have the car running on the track for better settings, and for the drivers to drive at least a few laps…
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THURSDAY
▌9:50 A.M. – Colin MASON (Head of Data Analysis) explains his tools
We saw yesterday that not being able to qualify is a loss, but nothing compared to the fact of being stuck in the pits and thus missing data to analyse… Why that? Colin MASON enlights us about all the data he collects with the team on the cars, to check, understand, and finally help to improve each feature of the car performance. These multiple diagrams are pretty complicated if you don’t know what it says, but now all is very clear!
▌4:50 P.M. – The Ferrari Challenge Qualifying Session is about to start…
We discovered a little bit more about this involvement of Scott TUCKER in the Ferrari Challenge, yesterday, and about his car. Our mistake by the way, this is not one of his own Ferrari, so he’s not as confortable and easy as usual at the wheel since the settings and few other details are different. Anyhow, the guy is still one of the best drivers of the world in a Ferrari 458 Challenge, and no doubt that everything is gonna work! We’ll try to catch him right after the session and interview him right away!
▌6:35 P.M. – Scott TUCKER finishes his Ferrari Challenge Qualifying Session!
Qualifying here is a tricky task, since almost 60 cars are running at the same time, but not at the same speed! And finding THE good lap for pushing is very difficult. But Scott TUCKER seems to be happy with his 1 hour driving duty right now, with the 8th time! The race is going to be fun for him, but the track time is also a great value since he has only be driving a few laps with the LMP2 prototype since the beginning of the week…
▌7:45 P.M. – One lap with Christophe BOUCHUT onboard in qualifying session!
18th participation for Christophe BOUCHUT, who already won the race in LMP1 category a few years ago with the Peugeot team. And after his huge crash last month at Spa-Francorchamps, we can see here that he is still at the top of his skills! Enjoy…
▌7:55 P.M. – Ron explains new delay before Christophe starts qualifying today
Fuel injection issues were solved yesterday evening, but everyone was sorry to see the car still in the garage at the beginning of the Qualifying Session almost an hour ago… Actually, as planned, and as we told you tuesday, the car was using spare parts yesterday to test them, while today it’s supposed to run with its real race configuration. What does it mean in terms of work? Mechanics had to change essential parts such as the engine, the suspensions, or the gearbox! What a team, unbelievable!
▌9:55 P.M. – Ken sums up situation with electronic issues
First Qualifying Session tonight ended up with new troubles, of electronic nature this time. Scott TUCKER was finishing his stint when he was asked to stop because loads of data were showing eratic behaviours. In 1 hour of time, the car was brought back to the garage and everything is now perfectly under control. It’s as if the car was totally built a second time before the race!
▌11:25 P.M. – Jean is pretty confident, even if BARBOSA hasn’t qualified yet!
Another « detail » we hadn’t noticed is that the drivers have to complete at least 3 laps each by night in order to be qualified, officially! And right now, this is the very last hour of the final session, and Joao BARBOSA hasn’t fulfilled to this requirement! And more frustrating, the car is now ready to run, but the track is under red flag…
▌0:15 A.M. – Christophe is happy with the car, even if it lacks performance, it’s well balanced now
As Joao told us a few minutes ago in qualifying, the top speed is low compared to other cars, but all in all, the car is good. And Christophe confirmed that at the very end of the session, by signing the best time, with double-stinted tires though! The warm-up saturday needs to confirm that everything is perfect now for a long race, and that the car is gonna be consistent and reliable for 24H. Stay tuned, we’ll come back soon with new videos!
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